


Sirius

by ShroomShake



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Backstory, Headcanon, Not Beta Read, dragons going apeshit, really convoluted and unnecessary im sorry, sothis origin story
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-27
Updated: 2020-01-13
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:02:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,345
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21578029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShroomShake/pseuds/ShroomShake
Summary: Exploring the origins of the Fódlan goddess, Sothis.References events and characters from multiple games in the series including Shadow Dragon/Archanea, Gaiden/Echoes.
Comments: 9
Kudos: 21





	1. I Fear The Edge of Dawn

**Author's Note:**

> So this is really experimental BUT I do have a path I'm following with this. I needed to publish this on the off chance it gets confirmed in the DLC that Sothis IS an exiled divine dragon to be able to reference for "i told u so" purposes. 
> 
> Slight canon divergence-as far as I'm aware the divine dragons don't assume manakete forms until after the war with the earth dragons.
> 
> I imagine Sothis to look like her appearance in the goddess mural. I was also inspired by this specific art of SilkeTara: https://twitter.com/silketara/status/1172202531251818496
> 
> A minor OC because this is my fic, dammit.
> 
> And apologies for any errors or problems with the flow!
> 
> I plan to explore crests, divine pulse, and colonization in future chapters :D a fun time.

* * *

Dull.

_How many times have I been here now?_

Brothers and sisters mulling about daily life-foraging, crafting, chatting.

Dull.

Young warriors breathing divine flames at each other in rowdy duels.

Dull.

The women gossiping and laughing idly, whispering insignificant secrets in each other’s ears.

Dull.

Dull, dull, dull, dull. 

The greatest empire of Archanea, inhabited by the divine dragon tribe, was once fondly called home by the dragon Sothis. Now, it elicited disgust and cynicism.

“If only they knew of the wars and extinction that await them,” she mused to herself, absentmindedly pulling fistfuls of grass from the field she lazed about in.

Since uncovering her ability to manipulate time, Sothis utilized the sacred skill to sate her own wild curiosity. Despite the countless timelines she indulged in, her own cowardice dragged her back to the comfort of her tribe in Archanea each time.

Once a carefree, energetic, mischievous girl known for her spunkiness, Sothis’ jaded demeanor drew whispers from her brethren.

_Such power lies within me, yet I am complacent to seize anything for myself._

There was a time when Sothis was content to live out her days as a warrior in the divine dragon tribe. Traveling through time, however, showed her endless possibilities. Paired with the hidden energy of her mysterious crest, boundless potential awaited her. 

A war between the divine and earth dragons would soon decimate the majority of her people.

Ages later, the Halidom of Ylisse, hailing Naga, the mighty ruler of all divine dragons, as a god, would be erected right in Archanea.

_A god._

Her exiled brethren, Mila and Duma, resided in another continent, already busy establishing their own lands. One day, their people would revere them as gods. Centuries after that, the unified continent would honor Tiki, Naga’s future daughter, as a voice of the heavens, a goddess in her own right. 

_Goddess._

Longing, hunger, jealousy, rage, determination, all bubbled within Sothis.

_Why can’t that be me?_

Perhaps, Sothis thought, her next journey through time, she would not return home.

 _Home_.

She knew not what that meant anymore.

After all, surely Naga knew the exploits Sothis occupied her time with. As the mightiest of the divine dragons and the leader of their empire, Sothis was wise enough to understand that nothing lied at the end for her and her tribe-not when she so heinously abused her divine powers, directly disobeying orders from their leader.

“Sothis?”

The voice pulled her from the alternate reality of her daydreams, as if waking from a nightmare with a start. Suddenly, she was all too aware of the sun’s blinding light.

“Nalina,” Sothis acknowledged her childhood friend with indifference.

Nalina was a lovely young woman by all accounts, keeping every facet of her appearance immaculate. She was passive and non-confrontational, her gentle, melodic voice sure to soothe any who listened. This soothing voice paired with her intelligence and constant pursuit of knowledge earned her popularity and respect within the community, and many came to her for guidance. Her hair was a unique shade of bright seafoam green, a clear contrast from the dark mossy color that Sothis sported. Her divinestone hung stylishly around her neck, the precious rock serving as a fashion accessory. All things considered, she was Sothis’ complete opposite; nevertheless, their mutual respect and love for each other fostered through many decades spent in each other’s company far outweighed their dissimilar personalities.

Nalina took a seat beside Sothis in the plush grass. Concern and conflict danced across her dainty face, yet she remained silent, her usual eloquence failing her. This did not bother Sothis, who was content to dive back into the world of her own mind.

“You have a wonderful gift, Sothis,” began Nalina, her voice shaky and meek. “It must be difficult, to be unable to use it to reach your fullest potential.” 

It was true. Naga, upon learning of Sothis’ power of time manipulation, forbade her from utilizing it, claiming that irreversible damage could be done to past, present, and future. Just the same as she had done to Mila years before. Sothis knew that Mila shared this power, and wondered how many other divine dragons possessed it as well that had been silenced.

“That is not the point that matters,” Sothis spat bitterly. “Our potential is boundless, yet she insists on suffocating us. I have dominion over the flow of time- who knows what other magnificence hides behind the walls of secrecy forced upon our brothers and sisters? Not to mention the unique crests that reside within each of us-” 

“I know. A-And, I’m grateful for your trust in me, to share the truth with me. But we must be careful about what we speak of. And, Sothis...this may be out of line, but I’m worried about you.”

Nalina’s sentiments made Sothis mentally recoil; she pulled her hooded shawl tighter over her shoulders.

“I do not wish to be preached to,” Sothis muttered. 

“How many lives have you led? How many years older are you than your physical age? If you do not stop this, you could drive yourself to a premature degeneration,” pleaded Nalina. She knew she had overstepped her boundaries, but could not leave her thoughts unsaid.

“Is that not for me alone to face the consequences?” Sothis responded. She held back her annoyance, feeling soft to her old companion’s good intentions despite the distance she felt between them.

“I have said my piece, and I concede,” sighed Nalina. "There is another reason I came to speak with you.” 

Tilting her head to finally look at Nalina’s face, Sothis saw tears forming in her emerald eyes, her pale green hair swished across her face doing little to hide the sorrow in her expression.

“Naga knows, Sothis. What you’ve been doing. She plans to seal you away in a deep slumber. You must leave immediately, on your own terms. ” 

_Ah._

“So that’s how it is,” sighed Sothis. “Who told you?”

“One of the royal advisers. I do not believe she was aware we were acquainted. It is inconsequential.”

_I expected this. So why does my heart beat so erratically?_

She resolved never to return to her carefree days with her clan in Archanea, but faced now with no other choice left a swirling feeling of panic in the pit of her abdomen. 

“Don’t be scared,” Nalina coaxed, almost a whisper. “I’ve always known you were destined for a greater existence than this one.” 

Sothis met her with silence, wanting nothing more than to retreat back into her own world.

_I dream of godhood and I cannot even face the truth of my own spinelessness._

_A lion might as well be a kitten if it is too weak to open its mouth and roar._

“You could come with me,” Sothis blurted out. “We could chase the flames of life that I know burns within both of us.” 

Smiling bitterly, Nalina replied, “I don’t imagine there is a place for me in your future.” 

Sothis’ eyes urged her to explain. 

“A power dwells within you that I cannot hope to match. I would be lost anywhere but here.” 

Memories of Nalina’s death in the impending earth dragon war haunted Sothis, who had been subjected to the sight of her mangled body in the blood-stained grass more times than she cared to recall. Nalina’s lifeless eyes widened with despair, had seemed to call out to Sothis, begging for salvation. 

“Is there anything I can do to convince you otherwise?” Sothis asked, feeling disgusted with the desperation in her voice.

Nalina’s sorrowful smile as her rosy cheeks were streaked with tears was answer enough.

Sothis turned away, gazing at the horizon of Archanea for the final time. The pink hues of the setting sun painted the sky picturesquely, the sun itself burning red like a ball of fire. In that moment, Sothis decided she would become like that burning red sun, to become the light that shone upon a new world of her creation. 

“I must gather my things quickly-” Sothis began. 

“No need. I already prepared your belongings,” Nalina interrupted, presenting Sothis with a small but heavy brown knapsack.

Inside sat fruit, a water flask, a shining opal pendant belonging to her late mother, a dagger, clothing, and a sealed papyrus envelope. 

“Do not open that letter. Not until you’ve found your new dawn,” Nalina instructed. Sothis nodded, and closed the bag back up, silently swinging it over her shoulders.

_I should be happy._

This was so much different than any other time. In past timelines, she would casually observe events unfold, traveling to previously charted lands, somewhat privy to what might await her. The unknown of setting off on a permanent journey with nothing familiar to cling to, terrified Sothis. Conversely, the finality of not being able to return back to her days in the divine dragon empire due to Naga’s awareness of her time traveling could be the push she needed to pursue the future she knew she was destined for. 

The gaze she then shared with Nalina seemed to stop time itself. The grief she felt was not as much in mourning that her dearest friend would not survive the impending earth dragon war, cutting her promising life short in a merciless end, as much as it was the selfish grief over never enjoying a lazy afternoon with her again. 

_Should I force her to come with me? Tell her of the fate that awaits her should she stay in this accursed place?_

It was then that Sothis realized that perhaps Nalina **wanted** to stay. 

“You must beat the sunrise, Sothis. For once, time is not on your side,” Nalina said, forcing a soft smile. But Sothis did not move, unable to commit to the irreversible future.

“Please don’t forget me, okay?” Nalina whispered through tears. “Just as I shall never forget you. I shall always look upon the sun, and the brightest star in the night sky, knowing that you are always shining your light upon me. May we meet again, in another life.” Nalina pulled Sothis into a tight, desperate embrace. Sothis returned her embrace, allowing the bubble she built around herself to dissipate, just once.

“It’s been fun, my dearest friend. Farewell,” Sothis said, increasing the distance between them.

Then, as silently as a feather drifting on the wind, Sothis transformed, spread her wings, and flew toward the horizon, the edge of dawn quickly approaching.

* * *

_The day was like any other- Mila, whom Sothis grew to admire as an older sister and mentor, trained Sothis and Nalina in channeling divine light into their breath attacks. Since taking on a vow of sealing their great power into stones and becoming manaketes to prevent degeneration, regularly utilizing their abilities while in their natural forms was essential for the divine dragons. Simple tasks like flying or breath attacks began to feel foreign after a time; Sothis thought she might be the only one who welcomed the distance between herself and dragonhood._

_Humans had always deeply fascinated Sothis. Drawn to their small, bipedal bodies, their smooth, scale-less skin, their mesmerizing smiles, Sothis found herself in the minority among the divine dragons. Her brethren claimed them weak, rash, senseless. Inciting pointless wars, trampling over the weak, and blindly sacrificing anything in pursuit of groundless ideals were irrefutable qualities of being human, according to those in her tribe._

_But, their burning passion to wring the most out of their short lifespans enamored Sothis._

_So, when dragonkind faced the threat of madness and degeneration resulting from their functionally immortal lives, Sothis found herself grotesquely delighted in taking on a humanoid form as a manakete._

_During their training, Mila’s mind appeared to be elsewhere, as if anticipating something. Erratically directing her gaze toward the thicket to the east, Mila did not even seem to notice Mila’s frankly poor performance._

_“Big sister Mila? Is everything alright?” Nalina was the first to address it._

_“But of course. Do not worry about me. Once more!” Mila redirected the conversation quickly back to her instruction._

_Neither Sothis nor Nalina were convinced, sharing a concerned glance. Nevertheless, they continued in this manner for some time._

_Suddenly, Mila charged toward the thicket; a feral, enraged roar followed moments afterward. The dense vegetation of the thicket obscured the scene from Sothis’ and Nalina’s view, but they could hear a fierce but decisive duel._

_Sothis reverted to her manakete form and pursued Mila on foot, making it easier to traverse the thicket. She ignored Nalina’s calls out to her to wait, to be careful. She chased after, unsheathing her dagger futilely; a puny blade would be worthless against the impenetrable scales of a dragon._

_Sothis found Mila in her manakete form, bloodied, standing over the corpse of a divine dragon. She didn’t recognize the body. The sight was chilling, exhilarating, sickening, beautiful, horrific-all at the same time. Sothis admired Mila’s decisive victories against her opponent, yet feared her lack of hesitation in slaughtering one of her fellow brethren._

_The two stood there for several minutes, neither of them mustering the courage to address the situation. Sothis returned her blade to her side._

_“He had gone mad,” Mila said, her voice hoarse and cracking._

_“I believe you,” Sothis said softly, searching for more to say but failing to find the words._

_“Well....Nalina must be worrying about us. Shall we?” said Mila decidedly, turning to head back._

_“Mila. How did you know?” Sothis interjected. Mila’s distraction and fixation on the thicket from which the degenerated dragon approached couldn’t have been a coincidence._

**_But how?_ **

_“I...degeneration is unmistakable, Sothis. Rejoice that you have not been forced to face it,” Mila answered, avoiding locking eyes with Sothis._

_“Do not deceive, sister. You knew what would unfold here today, as if you...predicted it. How?” said Sothis._

_Mila locked eyes with Sothis, struggling internally, unable to decide whether or not to place her trust in Sothis. She walked forward, reaching for Sothis’ hands, grasping them in her own. She traced her fingers over her knuckles, an absent gaze in her narrow eyes._

_“I have seen this day, once before,” Mila uttered her voice shaking. “Only, I saw two innocent girls needlessly slaughtered, under my care. By a dragon gone mad. This field, splattered with blood, because I was too weak, too slow…I could not accept it. And so...I turned back the hands of time.”_

_Sothis jerked her hands away, and Mila immediately began to reevaluate placing her confidence in the young manakete._

_“I understand if you do not believe me, but-”_

_“No, sister, I...I believe you,” said Sothis, staring off in the distance._

_“Naga has forbidden me from meddling with the flow of time, but I could not stand by, knowing I had the capacity to reverse a tragedy,” Mila explained with urgency in her voice._

_Unfazed by the notion of treading so close to a gruesome death, Sothis fixated on what Mila had just revealed to her. Her wild hunger for power and novelty took control in her mind. She quickly grew desperate for such a capacity for herself._

_“Are there others with such abilities?” Sothis interjected, her eyes glowing with inquisitiveness._

_“I know not. I imagine only Naga herself knows with certainty,” Mila answered._

_“I am to assume, then, that this is not the first time you have manipulated time,” Sothis continued gleefully. “How are you able to do it?”_

_“I have only been able to exercise my influence over time under extreme emotion. It is not something I can easily control. Not yet, at least…”_

_“I wonder if such potential dwells within me, as well…” Sothis thought to herself._

_“Sothis, your ambition and tenacity are why I find myself drawn to you. Such youthful energy...but you mustn't lose sight of yourself, nor your empathy to others in your pursuit of strength. Please assure me that you will keep my words in your heart,” Mila urged, becoming unnerved at Sothis’ distant expression._

_“It shall be a promise, as long as you can promise me something in return,” said Sothis, moving to hold Mila’s hand again._

_“What would you have me vow?”_

_“Please, continue to guide me, sister Mila. Train me, and teach me all that you know,” Sothis requested, almost pleading. Mila was almost fearful of Sothis’ earnestness, but her charming determination obscured Mila’s reservations._

_“Very well. From here on out, we shall continue to elevate each other forevermore,” agreed Mila._

_“I cannot thank you enough, my sister,” Sothis beamed._

_Sothis reached for her dagger at her hip, unsheathing the short blade and bringing it to her palm._

_“Shall we swear it on our blood?”_

_A short, but very noticeable bout of silence followed._

_“We shall.”_

_Sothis sliced the blade across her palm without a hint of hesitation, and handed the dagger to Mila, who did the same. They joined hands, silently swearing an oath to each other. Sothis felt a jolt of energy fill her soul, physically sensing the eternal bond with her sister._

_“We should probably return to Nalina, lest she faint from worry,” said Mila, and the two shared a laugh._

  
  



	2. Nabatea

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking so long to update this...I lost all my progress for ch.2 and had to rewrite it. I'm going to post shorter chapters for this work, but I hope in return to update more frequently! uwu 
> 
> Please check out this art that inspired me https://twitter.com/EvaBeeSmith/status/1194517269172359168  
> and @EvaBeeSmith has just been inspiring for this fic in general with their saints/Sothis art. May the goddess bless them.

* * *

Sothis soared so high and so fast that the confines of reality seemed to melt around her. Her emotions were wild; she expelled her feelings of anger, terror, uncertainty, and sorrow into escaping as far away as she could. She did not know where or for how long she flew away from Archanea. Had hours passed? Perhaps days?

_Centuries?_

As she traveled, Sothis started to feel disconnected from her humanoid form - her thoughts became hazy and indistinguishable. The environment whirring past her line of vision was like a setting from a dream-an indistinguishable horizon of ever-moving colors with no distinct form of their own. Like being enveloped in a cool fog, she felt stifled yet exposed. Despite her fatigue, Sothis pressed onward, sure that if she were to relent in her flight she would descend into a bottomless abyss. The feeling terrified her.

_The abyss might be the favorable alternative to whatever hellscape might await me._

She considered going to Valentia-to Mila’s land. To be with her most treasured mentor again was so desperately out of reach for the young dragon-the continent was too close to Archanea, and she would surely be tracked down by Naga. Not to mention that Mila would already be on a fast track to total degeneration. Sothis had seen it in many timelines before. Despite it all, clinging to one last shred of familiarity was incredibly appealing to the distraught divine dragon.

* * *

_Sothis sat in a field, a considerable distance outside the limits of the divine dragon empire. Her pale face was swollen, her eyes baggy from weeping. The bed of lilies she rested upon marked the grave of her mother, Osiris. Days had passed since she was killed by a rampaging Earth Dragon._

_Sothis watched firsthand how the looming beast’s claw pierced her mother’s heart before she even had the chance to morph into her dragon form._

_Instead of screaming, crying, running, or fighting, Sothis stared-time seemed to slow as she watched her mother's lifeless body collapse cruelly to the ground._

_And then, in an instant, Sothis blinked to find herself standing with Osiris again in the field. It was a scene she had seen just minutes before. Ignoring her mother’s idle conversation, Sothis transformed, ready to fight back with an instinctual drive._

_But Sothis was no match; sustaining her own wounds as she watched her mother’s murder helplessly for a second time. Sothis struggled with the disgusting combination of grief and elation she felt. The duality of having lost and gained in such a short timespan sent her mind reeling._

_The great power she envied wildly that Mila had been blessed with now resided within her, and the excitement made her heart race. At the same time, her hopeless grief from the loss of her mother filled her stomach with unbearable sickness._

_Mila appeared before her after some time, sitting next to her in wordless solidarity. Sothis revealed what had transpired, of her awakened ability to turn back the hands of time._

_“It wasn’t enough. I wasn’t enough,” Sothis cried._

_“I know it shall not offer any comfort presently, but if turning back the hands of time was not enough to save her, you must accept what came to pass as fate,” Mila said, resting a hand on Sothis’s shoulder._

**_Fate...can such a cruel thing truly exist?_ **

_“But, I must admit, sister...I am at a loss for words,” Mila added._

_“Perhaps this is a divine gift within everyone of our kind! We just need to unlock it,” suggested Sothis._

_Mila was silent. “I don’t know.” she sighed, seemingly holding something back._

_“Please, do correct me if I’m wrong,” the younger dragon pressed_

_“Naga and I were once close…”_

_“I know. And?” Sothis grew impatient._

_“There are...properties unique to us. To divine dragons. Because of the unique nature of our reproduction, we are born with incarnations of power in our blood. They’re manifested as symbols. Like emblems, or crests…” Mila explained in detail, holding up her hand. A glowing symbol appeared above her palm.  
_

_“This is my crest,” she continued. “What eludes me is...Naga suggested that the power to turn back time was unique to my crest. I wonder…” Mila trailed off, her troubled aura lingering in the air._

_Sothis didn’t respond._

_“Our blood pact...Do you recall that day, Sothis? When you learned the truth about me?” asked Mila._

_“I could never forget it,” Sothis nodded._

_“It might be possible that you absorbed my power through exchanging blood with me,” said Mila._

_“This is a lot to take in, my sister. How does Naga know all of this anyway?” questioned Sothis incredulously._

_“Naga has guided us since time immemorial. Her knowledge is boundless, and her power is godlike. We cannot hope to match her, only to trust that the guidance and leadership she offers is integral and free of deceit,” said Mila aloofly. She seemed to still be working through the mountain of her realization._

**_To hide this from us, to restrict us...why would she deceive us so?_ **

_“Why would she hide the truth from us? If we used, exchanged, and transformed our blood between each other, there could be so much more we could learn! We could discover even more hidden abilities, and-”_

_“Halt, Sothis.” Mila interrupted gravely. “Such ideations are dangerous. Too much power would have catastrophic consequences. Keep in mind that perhaps such fantasies are the reason the truth is deliberately hidden.”_

_“I thought we could tell each other anything, in confidence,” reminded Sothis, angered._

_“I have heard enough. It is also my duty to keep your childish imagination in check,” was Mila’s rebuttal._

_Sothis flung herself backward lazily, sprawling herself across the bed of lilies. Her head and heart were pounding, yet her breathing remained steady. She felt her blood rushing through her veins like a raging river; it felt scalding like magma. The sensation was overwhelming and uncomfortable, and just when Sothis felt like unleashing a scream the discomfort dissipated._

_“Sothis? Are you well?” Mila asked, noticing her discomfort._

_“I’m fine. I wish to be left alone now,” she said, and Mila complied.  
_

* * *

After seemingly endless travel and reminiscing, Sothis saw the cloudiness in her vision evaporate to reveal a land mass, shaped oddly enough like the head of a dragon. Intrigued, Sothis decided to alight upon the continent. She was in dire need of rest, anyway.

Once planted on the ground, she morphed back into her human form-her dress was tattered and dirty, and scrapes covered her skin. She could barely move her body due to fatigue, and her dark green hair was oily, matted, and messy.

The world around her was not so different than Archanea-the sky was just as blue, the grass was just as green, the trees were just as lush, and the warm breeze was just as gentle. The comforting familiarity enticed Sothis to stay, as she dragged her spent body in search of water and sustenance.

* * *

Sothis didn’t bother to count how many moons passed as she recovered her strength. Her memories hazy, Sothis’s impatience grew the more she explored the insubstantial land. Her boredom consumed her quickly. She wandered aimlessly with no sense of direction in search of life other than herself. 

During her travels, she happened upon a colony of humans. Although giddy to discover them, the dragon kept her distance cautiously, observing them for a long while. Their settlement was modest, and didn’t come close to the level of grandiose technology of the divine dragon empire back in Archanea. Their clothes were simple and their infrastructure was altogether puny. Sothis found their agriculture archaic, and laughed inwardly at how backward they were. But after a time of observing them, Sothis grew attached to their endearing work ethic and obvious sense of community. She longed to approach them, but she knew she had to have a plan. Eventually, Sothis slinked away from the humans’ settlement, becoming irritated with herself and her inability to take action.

***

Sothis sat alone in a deserted canyon, where not even the crows reached. After many moons had passed, loneliness had creeped in and consumed her mind. She considered abandoning the essentially empty continent in search of a new one. In her most desperate moment she even considered taking her chances and turning back time again to try and hatch a new course of action. Thinking of her mother, she remembered comforting words she always used to say.

“I knew when the time was right to bring you into this world. And when I did, I never wanted for anything again,” Osiris often doted. 

It was for selfish reasons, but perhaps the call of motherhood was ready to be answered. To bear a child for a divine dragon was an easy process-their reproduction was asexual through blood. It took a fair amount to achieve, but through patience, Sothis would have enough of her own blood harvested to complete the process within a week. 

As Sothis strolled around the outskirts of the canyon, while searching for food and water to replenish herself after a particularly draining session, she glimpsed something in the distance. Approaching cautiously, her stomach dropped when she realized that it was a human, unconscious.

Rushing to their side, she searched over their body quickly for wounds in need of immediate care. Although no injuries were apparent, the body was cool to the touch. The body was that of a young human man-he appeared so young and seemed not to sustain any fatal injuries that Sothis was puzzled as to his cause of death. She put her ear to his chest and heard nothing. She was fretting over a corpse. Feeling a bit mournful, Sothis summoned healing magic in a feeble attempt at reviving the dead human. He didn’t stir, and the dragon eventually gave up.

Cradling the man’s head in her lap, stroking his forehead softly, Sothis was enveloped in a cloud of guilt as she allowed heinous ideas to intrude her thoughts. 

Thinking of the knowledge of crests, she had spent time pondering what crests her own child would bear and what particular abilities they would come with. Ever since the day Mila revealed the secret of their divine blood, Sothis craved to use whatever means necessary to experiment and test the boundaries of crests’ powers. The doorway to a crest’s power lied in the blood. 

What crest would a dragon child have, should they be born of both dragon and human blood? Her morality and curiosity pitted against each other in a ferocious duel.

“Leave him,” she mouthed, the word inaudible.

_He is already dead. I must seize this opportunity._

Her instinctual affinity for curiosity emerged victorious as she dragged the corpse with her back to her temporary camp. 

***

She knew time was not on her side as she stared at the dead body with hesitation, unable to bring herself to extract the human’s blood. The exiled dragon loomed above him, her sharpest knife in hand, replaying disjointed events from the many lives she had witnessed cruelly in her head.

**Mila, the blade of Falchion pierced through her skull.**

**The once respectable Earth Dragon Prince Medeus meeting his demise at the end of Prince Marth’s blade.**

**Watching the world end as Tiki’s awesome power brought destruction on the world.**

**Endless bloodlines of kings and emperors, hailing the divine dragons as their gods.**

_I will not fall to the same path. I will forge my future of glory and divinity._

Sothis’s feral thoughts clawed at her from all sides, enveloping her like a thick sheet. Her memories swirled around her like a fog as she swung her blade down.

* * *

Sothis would have been lying had she claimed to not be disappointed when her first child was born. He had the same green hair, the same pointed ears, the same emerald, snake-like eyes as any other divine dragon.

_Unsurprising that my foolish experiment yielded nothing._

As the child aged, however, Sothis was ecstatic when he morphed into his dragon form for the first time. Her son, whom she had decided to call “Cichol”,boasted a form more akin to that of the earth dragons than of divine dragons-for one of her kind to procreate such a child was unheard of. 

Cichol, her first-he was a gentle young man, eager to please, and meekly passive. He was always glued to his mother’s side, and the first to volunteer help in the constant work it took as Sothis built her empire. 

She bore Macuil shortly after. Taking the form of a beaked and feathered wind dragon, Macuil was as mischievous as he was intelligent, and his incredible affinity for the magic arts proved indispensable in furthering technology and infrastructure through the years. 

Indech, the third child of the progenitor, was curious and friendly, displaying great strength and prowess in physical combat as he grew up. He was a water dragon, bearing a shelled body instead of wings in his transformed state. As an adult, his leadership brought forth an army of seasoned soldiers in the new society.

With her first three children, Sothis was content for a time to patiently watch time pass as they took their time building their settlement. 

Characteristically, Sothis soon grew impatient, and became obsessed with bearing more children. Blinded by her goals, Sothis resorted to the taboo to obtain more blood with which to combine with her own and create more offspring. She hunted animals from which to drain blood from to combine with her own as she gave rise to many new lives. She even extracted blood from her other children to combine with her own as well, encouraging them to take the same measures and birth offspring of their own-an action that would have been strictly forbidden in Archanea. For ages, the dragon spent all her energy on giving life to her new civilization. The years blurred together as the land inhabited by her descendants grew.

Sothis looked upon her progress with pride. Thanks to her experiments with blood, the dragons she and her children gave life to varied immensely in species-far deviating from the divine dragons. She gave rise to breeds of dragons that never even existed before-snow, water, grim, kalpa-and it filled her with delight. 

It happened seemingly in the blink of an eye for the progenitor dragon-ages had passed since she first alighted upon the continent, destitute and lost. Now, ages had passed, and she and her progeny had erected an empire, displaying innovative architecture and agriculture. For the first time in the many pathetic lives she had led, Sothis felt as though she was finally approaching the greatness of her godly predecessors, like Mila, Duma, and Naga, that she had so ravenously hungered for.

_I am the arbiter of every soul here. The mother of all life. I am the god of this world._

She dubbed her utopia Nabatea, considering it a fitting name for a nation destined for eternal glory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Follow me if you waaant owo  
> twitter.com/itswingberry


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